Star Wars one-shots and short stories

Obi-Wan Kenobi/Sheev Palpatine, nightmare

After being off-planet for nearly three months on a campaign, Obi-Wan was happy to be back in Coruscant.  Sadly, there had been a lot of casualties in the campaign.  Along with him simply being extremely sad that he had lost friends, it also meant that he had to spend more time with the council, going over reports, before he could truly get to his shore leave.  Once he had attended three meetings with assorted council members, and two meetings with the war council of the senate, he would finally be free to try and rest.
His last meeting was attended by Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, his staff, and around ten assorted powerful senators.  As it came to a close, Obi-Wan didn't process that everyone was leaving the room.  In fact, he didn't process anything, because he had fallen asleep around ten minutes previous to the meeting being adjourned.  The Jedi's lover, the Chancellor, dismissed his staff and walked over to the younger man.
"Obi-Wan," Sheev said quietly, gently shaking the other man.  There was no response.  A small, warm smile came onto Palpatine's features as she observed his often exhausted boyfriend actually sleeping peacefully.  Part of him wanted to just leave him be so that he could rest, but a larger part of him knew that the other man, though relatively young still, would regret sleeping in the hard chair.
"Obi-Wan," He said louder, shaking him a little firmer.  This time, instead of no response, Obi-Wan groaned a little before looking up at Sheev through half-lidded eyes.
"Five more minutes," Obi-Wan mumbled, trying to go back to sleep.
"You can have all the time you want, but it shouldn't be in that chair," Sheev said, chuckling as Obi-Wan groaned again, but did stand up this time.
"Fine," Obi-Wan paused, looking around the room, "the meeting's over?"
"Yes, love, it ended around ten minutes after you fell asleep," Sheev informed him, gently leading him to the door.
"But... it was important.  I was supposed to..." Obi-Wan trailed off into a yawn.
"I can have my office forward their notes on the meeting to you.  For now, you need to sleep." Sheev said, guiding the younger man into the elevator with him.
As the elevator began to move to the level which held the Chancellor's quarters, Obi-Wan started to doze off again, letting his head fall onto Sheev's shoulder.  When the elevator stopped a few floors away from their destination, Obi-Wan quickly moved away from the Chancellor as the doors opened, and Master Mace Windu stepped forward.
"Obi-Wan, I was just going to find you, the council has called another meeting, and they want you to stand in.  I know you want to get to shore leave, but they are trying to figure out where to send General Skywalker's battalion, and we figured that you may want a say." Mace explained.
"Of course, Master," Obi-Wan said, straightening his robes and pushing his hair back, following Mace out.  He pulled out his comm and sent Sheev a quick message saying, 'I'll be up to your quarters soon.'  His comm chimed with a response almost immediately, 'I will have dinner prepared.'
Sheev continued to his quarters and changed out of his bulky senate clothes to begin cooking the meat for their Felucian Salad.  When he had finished, roughly thirty minutes later, he put it all in the warmer, to keep it the same temperature, and went to check his comm to see if Obi-Wan had contacted him again.  Seeing that there were no messages, he sat on his couch and began to watch a holovid to pass the time.  When he had finished it, and around an hour and a half had passed, he checked his comm again.  As he picked it up this time, there was a knock on his door.  He quickly opened it, hoping that Obi-Wan would be there.
"Obi-Wan," Sheev said, concerned.  As he stepped out of the way, to let the other man enter, Sheev noticed that the dark circles under Obi-Wan's eyes had grown darker since he had last seen him, and the younger man was now limping.
"Hey, Sheev," Obi-Wan said quietly, sitting down on the couch, accepting the plate of food when it was handed to him as Sheev joined him on the couch.
"How was the meeting?" Sheev asked gently.
"Classified," Obi-Wan muttered, "and so was the second one I got roped into."
"I'm sorry," Sheev said, knowing that his lover was in pain and exhausted.  If he didn't have to hide his identity, he would have swooped in and rescued Obi-Wan from these parts of his life long ago.
"It's not your fault," Obi-Wan said in between bites as he ate his food as quickly as he could.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sheev asked, pressing their shoulders together, causing the younger man to lean into the contact.
"No.  Just... stay?" Obi-Wan said, starting to doze off yet again.
"Of course.  Always," Sheev said, gently pulling the other man's plate out of his hands as he began to fall asleep and not addressing the fact that they were in his apartment.
After setting the plates down on the caff table, he waited a few moments before moving again, this time to shift Obi-Wan into a lying position on the couch to cover him with a blanket.
After finishing that repositioning, Sheev sat down on the couch again, pulling Obi-Wan's head into his lap, and turned on another quiet holovid.
As the holovid was drawing to a close, Sheev felt Obi-Wan shift in his lap.  At first, he was concerned that he had woken the tired man somehow.  When he looked down, however, he saw that his initial assumption was incorrect.
Obi-Wan's face was pulled tight as though in pain, and he was suddenly covered in a sheen of sweat, muttering unintelligibly under his breath.
"Obi-Wan," Sheev said, shaking the man he loved to wake him from his apparent nightmare.  When that didn't work, he shook the man harder and very carefully sent a probe through the force into Obi-Wan's mind to wake him up.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan shot up from the couch and darted away from Sheev... only to get his feet tangled in the blanket as his left knee gave out, causing him to crash to the ground.
Even though everything in his mind was screaming at him to approach and help, Sheev stayed put on the couch.  He didn't know what was happening but wanted to give Obi-Wan a chance to breathe before approaching him.
Obi-Wan managed to flip onto his back and move into a corner so that he could see the whole room.  After a moment of canvasing the area, his eyes caught Sheev's.
Suddenly, he remembered where he was, when he was, and who he was with.
"Sh-sheev?" Obi-Wan asked hesitantly.
"Yes, Obi-Wan.  I'm here," Sheev said calmly, "can I come over there?" He gestured to the small alcove that Obi-Wan was pressed into.
"Yes, please," Obi-Wan said just loud enough to be heard by the older man.  Sheev stood and, moving slowly, approached the younger man.
He sat with half a foot of distance between him and Obi-Wan, giving the younger man a chance to refuse physical contact.  This consideration proved to be useless when Obi-Wan practically lunged at the older man, wrapping his arms around Sheev's waist.
Sheev quickly shifted them so that Obi-Wan was in his lap, and Sheev had his arms around Obi-Wan in a protective manner.
"What's wrong?" Sheev asked gently, running a hand through Obi-Wan's hair.
"Nightmare," Obi-Wan said, though his voice was muffled by his face being pressed against Sheev's chest.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sheev offered.  Obi-Wan hesitated before nodding.  He paused again before speaking.
"Have you ever heard of Melida/Daan?" Obi-Wan asked quietly.
"No, I haven't.  Is it a planet?" Sheev asked as Obi-Wan pulled away slightly so that Sheev could see his face, which was red and had tears running down it.
"Yes.  It was a war-ridden planet with two factions, the Melida and the Daan.  They had been at war for a long time.  My master, Master Jinn, and I were sent to try to recover another Jedi there.   I was only 13, and I'd only been Master Jinn's padawan for a short time, less than a year when we went." Obi-Wan paused here to breathe, leaning more into Sheev.
"If you don't want to go on..." Sheev offered Obi-Wan another option, to just rest.
"No, I'm fine.  While there, we discovered a third faction.  The Young.  They were children from both sides who just wanted peace.  When we had found the Master we were there to find, we began to head back to the temple.  I disagreed, and Master Jinn... repudiated me.  I left the order and he left me to fight for several months." Obi-Wan explained.
"I'm so sorry, my love," Sheev said, predicting the soft blush that crept up Obi-Wan's face with the use of the pet name.
"Thank you," Obi-Wan whispered, leaning back into Sheev's chest, "that was what the dream was about."
"Is there anything I can do?" Sheev asked, desperate to help his lover.
"Do you have... an ice pack?  Or bacta?" Obi-Wan requested hesitantly, still pressing his face against Sheev's chest.
"Yes.  Are you injured?" Sheev asked, trying to figure out what he had missed.
"No-well yes.  My knee was injured on Bandomeer, and then it was worsened on Melida/Daan, causing it to become a chronic injury.  I hurt it again in my last campaign, and haven't gone to the halls of healing," Obi-Wan explained, leaning back slightly from the older man, ashamed that his inaction meant that his lover had to worry about him, "it hurts sometimes when I'm too tired to use the Force to help."
As Sheev shifted Obi-Wan back onto the floor to grab the ice, he felt his Dark Side rising up again as he picked up the last thought from Obi-Wan.  If he didn't have a plan, he would sweep up his lover and take him somewhere the Jedi could never hurt him again, never feel like he didn't deserve everything.  However, there was a plan in place, and it required him to stay hidden, much to his current irritation.
"Here," Sheev said as he came back to Obi-Wan's side, helping him to shift the layers he was wearing in order to gain access to his knee, which was red and slightly swollen.
"Thank you," Obi-Wan said quietly, moving back onto Sheev's lap once the ice was applied correctly.
"Of course, my love.  I will always help you as much as I can," Sheev said, wrapping his arms comfortingly around Obi-Wan, resigned to sit there for as long as it took for his little Jedi to feel better.